In a heartbreaking parting speech at the party’s convention in Chicago on Monday, an emotional US President Joe Biden hugged Democratic nominee Kamala Harris and said he given all for his nation.
“America, America, I gave my best to you,” the 81-year-old Biden said, quoting a patriotic song during a nearly hour-long speech that highlighted his accomplishments while urged voters to support his vice president against Donald Trump in November.
Harris joined him on stage after the address, and the two embraced as the crowd applauded Biden’s surprise decision to withdraw from the 2024 presidential race less than a month earlier.
Harris has reenergized the party and erased Republican challenger Trump’s poll advantage, but Biden emphasized that he was not resentful about his departure.
Instead, as he neared the end of a five-decade political career, he stated that he had done everything he could to prevent his foe Trump from retaking the presidency.
“I love the job, but I love my country more. I love my country more,” said Biden. “And all this talk about how I’m angry at all those people who said I should step down — that’s not true.”
Both Biden and Harris appeared to wipe away a tear as the US leader won a huge four-minute ovation when he first took to the stage, following an introduction by First Lady Jill Biden and his daughter Ashley.
Several members of the audience were also in tears as Biden made his farewell speech, before leaving the stage to the strains of the song “Higher Love.”
‘Gave my best’
And Harris had earlier made a surprise appearance — Democratic nominees don’t normally speak until the final day of the convention — to heap lavish tribute on her boss.
“I want to kick us off by celebrating our incredible president Joe Biden,” said Harris, who was wearing a tan suit and took to the stage to Beyonce’s “Freedom.”
“We are forever grateful to you.”
It was undoubtedly a difficult swan song for Biden, but he insisted he would be the “best volunteer” for Harris’s campaign — knowing perhaps that his legacy depends on her beating Trump.
But he couldn’t quite let go of the presidency, with his speech focusing more on his own record in office than the future under President Harris.
Biden listed his proudest achievements including on the economy and health care, but above all for healing the “soul of America” after Trump’s time in office and the pro-Trump January 6, 2021 Capitol riot.
“Donald Trump calls America a failing nation… He says we’re losing. He’s the loser,” he said, also referring to Trump as a “convicted felon” after the Republican was found guilty of doctoring business records to cover up hush money payments to a porn star.
Despite his low popularity ratings and the debate debacle against Trump that led him to step aside, Biden again insisted he’d given his all.
“I made a lot of mistakes in my career, but I gave my best to you,” he said.
Protests against Gaza war
Biden ended his remarks surrounded by family, as he has been throughout his five-decade political career.
“Joe and I have been together nearly 50 years. And there are times when I fall in love with him all over again,” the first lady remarked in an introductory statement.
Monday’s opening night of the convention was emotional on many levels, particularly for many of the important actors.
Hillary Clinton, who lost to Trump in 2016 in her effort to become America’s first female president, urged Harris to finally break through the glass ceiling.
“Something is happening in America, and you can feel it—something we’ve worked for and dreamed of for a long time,” the former secretary of state and first lady added.
Earlier, protests over Israel’s conflict in Gaza overshadowed the convention’s opening, highlighting what remains a potential vote-loser for Democrats among left-wingers and Arab Americans.
A number of activists broke through the convention’s outer security fence after breaking away from a bigger demonstration involving thousands of people.
Police wearing blue helmets with shields and wielding black batons barred them from reaching the inner barrier.
Meanwhile, Trump has been sent into a spiral as a result of the abrupt shift in leadership on the Democratic ticket.
While Democrats gather in Chicago, Republicans will spend the week traveling across the country.
On Monday, in the battleground state of Pennsylvania, he emphasized Harris’s “craziness” and claimed she “has no idea what the hell she’s doing” on the economy.